Flower pot

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a flower pot ( 1 ) made of a deep-drawn plastic material and provided for a hanging flower pot wherein a suspension part ( 2 ) comprises a plurality of strands ( 5 ) that are linked via hook clips ( 3 ) with the pot rim ( 4 ) that has an outer continuous contour. The aim of the invention is to provide a flower pot that, in accordance with the special technical conditions during deep-drawing, is provided with a fixation of the seat ( 7 ) of the hook clips ( 3 ), while maintaining a good distribution of suspension loads between the pot and the hook clips and safeguarding an appealing yet easy to handle shape. To achieve this aim, the pot rim ( 4 ) has tapered sections extending inwards towards a wall contiguous to the bottom. These tapered sections form a seat ( 7 ) for the hook clips ( 3 ).

This invention relates to a flowerpot according to the preamble of Claim1.

Flowerpots made of plastic are very widespread; injection-molded plasticpots offer a relatively high degree of freedom in the design of the potand permit the insertion of webs, reinforcing ribs, branches in wallsand the like. The design freedom is [determined] mainly by therequirement of unmoldability of the pot from injection mold and byminimum wall thicknesses for the flow paths in injection molding. Whenthe injection molding material must be injected from an injection pointat the bottom through thin-walled areas up to the edge of the pot,“freezing” in the form of solidification of material threatens to occurin the wall area.

Alternatively, there are also flowerpots and other plant pots made ofplastic in a deep-drawn form, since attempts to control the wallthickness distribution of such a product have been successful, and inparticular it has become possible to predetermine the wall thicknessesin the area of the conical pot wall; this would pose problems in theinjection molding process. It is also of interest that the deep-drawnpot retains its greatest wall thickness at the upper edge, which isnormally designed like a flange with a turned-down collar. Acorresponding rigidity is also demanded there. This edge is formed by aring-shaped insert of a plastic film which is to be deep-drawn and isbrought in contact with a hollow mold in the inside area by using a moldand by applying an excess pressure on the inside and/or a vacuum on theoutside.

The ring-shaped insert, however, necessitates a continuous edge contourwithout any interruptions or discontinuities. This edge contour isadvantageously provided in flowerpots intended for hanging baskets orsimilar hanging use and in which a hanger having several strands,preferably three strands, is clipped to the edge of the pot by hookclamps. The hook clamps are thereby in a predetermined immovableposition. Instead they may migrate along the edge and be displaced onthe whole on one side of the edge of the pot, thus causing it to tipover. In the case of injection-molded flowerpots, a fixation of positionwould be easily achieved through intermediate webs or ribs beneath theedge, some of which are provided anyway, or by shaping and specialcontouring of the edge, which would be difficult or impossible toachieve with deep-drawn products.

The object of this invention is to design a flowerpot produced by thedeep-drawing method so that despite the particular design conditions,which are determined by the process technology, fixation of the seatingof the hook clamps is possible, a good transfer of hanging loads betweenthe pot clamps and the hook clamps is achieved, and an attractive shapethat is easy to handle is obtained.

According to this invention, this object is achieved with a flowerpotaccording to the preamble of Claim 1 with the characterizing features ofClaim 1.

It has been found that the deep-drawing process also allows anembodiment of the critical pot edge when narrowed zones are provided andare incorporated on the inside toward the wall of the pot. It isself-evident that such a change has an extensive influence on theworking process in deep drawing and also the hollow shape for deepdrawing as well as the design of the pot. The narrowed zones in thecourse of the edge essentially create a predetermined seating for theclamps. which can be removed from this seating only by being widened andthus only after overcoming an elastic resistance. The narrowed zonesalso prevent great widening and lever ratios on the clamps andcorresponding mechanical loads accordingly. In addition, the narrowedzones may also be designed so that they do not develop into the broaderedge areas with fluid transitional areas but instead develop abruptlyand at an angle so that the transitions also provide stop functions forthe hook clamps.

The narrowed zones in the edge are preferably connected with a step-likedesign of the transitional area between the edge of the pot and the wallof the pot, so that even in this area the wall continues from the edgeinto the wall of the pot, and due to the particular spatial design, theresult is a stiffening, which is quite advantageous for the flow offorce toward the seating of the hook clamps.

The height of the steps is expediently designed so that the clamps usedwith the hangers do not have any significant play in movement. Thus,even if the pots are struck or pressed, the hook clamps do notexperience any critical movement or spreading that might endanger thehold with the pot, and instead the step forms a step bottom holding thehook clamps in position in the vertical direction.

The step shape is also dimensioned scantily in width with respect to thewidest hook clamps provided, so that they fit into the step shape withonly a small play and do not tend to become twisted or unhooked evenunder impact or compressive loads.

An exemplary embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the drawingand is described in greater detail below. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a side view of a hanging basket consisting of a flowerpotas a deep-drawn part and a hanger,

FIG. 2 shows a view of the flowerpot according to FIG. 1 as seenobliquely from above.

FIG. 3 shows a view according to FIG. 2 with the hook clamps of a hangerdepicted as suspended above the pot,

FIG. 4 shows a view of the flowerpot obliquely from beneath with thehook clamps attached, and

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged sectional view through the edge of theflowerpot at the seat of a hook clamp.

A flowerpot 1 according to this invention is designed as a deep-drawnpart and is connected to a hanger 2 as an injection-molded part. Bothparts are made of plastic. The hanger 2 is provided with hook clamps 3,which are to be connected in an engaged fashion to an upper pot edge 4of the pot 1. The hanger 2 also has three strands 5 which converge at ahook 6 at the top, by which the pot 1 and the hanger 2 are to be hung asa hanging basket.

The hanger 2 in its injection-molded form is only one known example ofan embodiment to be found in detailed variants in practice. The hookclamps 3, which are responsible for the connection to the pot 1, aredesigned to have mirror symmetry in the present case, so that the potcan also be arranged so that it is rotated by 180° with two hooks, whichsimplifies handling. It is self-evident that the particular hook clampmay also be designed so that a hookless counterpart is opposite a hookpart.

The design of the pot 1 is determined greatly by the shaping by deepdrawing. In deep drawing, complex shapes such as ribs, branching ofwalls, etc., are out of the question. However, even when the shape isspecified by a continuous closed wall, relationships between shaping,e.g., in indentations or protrusions, and wall thickness must be takeninto account. Although a certain influence on the wall thicknessdistribution can be obtained by proceeding incrementally and usingspecial unmolding tools before unmolding by applying vacuum from theoutside and/or excess pressure from the inside, the relationships mustnevertheless be considered as highly complex in any case.

A further restriction on shaping arises from the fact that the productis shaped from a flat material, which is usually to be defined by anedge in shaping. This edge forms the pot edge 4 in the present case,which is affected very little by deep drawing and therefore, which isdefinitely advantageous, is designed to be particularly stiff. However,it would at least be difficult to provide interruptions ordiscontinuities in the pot edge.

A deep-drawn pot of the type depicted here shaped from a flat plasticsemifinished product of 1 to 1.8 mm thickness, here 1.45 mm has a wallthickness distribution between 0.8 mm at the pot edge 4 to approx. 0.5mm at the bottom to less than 0.3 mm in the wall 8 as a result of thedeep drawing operation.

A continuous pot edge in the form of a strip or profile to conform tothe manufacturing process could not, however, achieve any definedseating or any defined fixation of the hook clamps 3 in thecircumferential direction. This is true of a round pot of the typedepicted here with respect to three hook clamps and/or also, e.g., witha rectangular or hexagonal pot. The hook clamps could easily migrate orslip along the edge and cause the pot to hang crookedly.

FIG. 2 shows a design of the pot edge 4 having three symmetricallydistributed narrowed zones 7, which are suitable as the seating for thehook clamps.

These narrowed zones of the pot edge 4 are designed as part of theoverall shell-type design of the deep-drawn part in that a region of anadjacent wall 8 runs essentially perpendicularly there over a shortsection except for narrow reinforcing ridges 9, 10.

Thus in the present case, a ring strip 11 of the wall 8 running betweenthe top ridge 10 and the pot edge 4 is displaced outward to form anapproximately vertical section 12, where the ridge 10 has a ridge-likebroadened area 13. In the circumferential direction, the shell-likeclosed shape of the deep-drawn part is supplemented by end walls 14which close the seat approximately at a right angle, in the present caseeven being extended beyond 90° and forming acute-angle connections.

Such a shaping of the pot can also be implemented in a deep-drawn potbecause a closed edge strip remains at any rate in the outer area of thepot edge 4, the initially flat molding also finding a fixed hold on thisedge strip in deep drawing. The shell shape of the deep-drawn part ispreserved without requiring any branches or deformation downward andoutward opposite the main direction of shaping that would beincompatible with the system.

The narrowed zones 7 are advantageous for the seating of the hook clampswhich must be spread slightly accordingly when pushed onto them andwhich engage tightly on a vertical wall, namely the wall part 12, in theuse position, thus serving to transfer the hanging forces. It isself-evident that the narrowed zones also facilitate engaging the clampsby hand.

The most important function of the narrowed zones and in particular alsothe end faces 14 on these narrowed zones, however, can be regarded asthe fixation of the hook clamps in the circumferential direction. Withat least approximately rectangular shaping of the end walls especiallyof course with a shaping of the type described here which includes acuteangles, it may be assumed that there is security against unintentionalmigration of the hook clamps 3 in the circumferential direction. Evenwith a “softer” shaping of the narrowed zones with inclined transitions,the hook clamps could in the normal case be expected to remain seatedwithout being able to rule out slippage due to inadvertent pressure orimpact.

As shown by the enlarged sectional diagram according to FIG. 5, the hookclamp 3 engages beneath the narrowed edge 4 tightly against the wallarea 12 which continues in a stepwise pattern into the widened area 13of the ridge 10 and then further into the remaining wall 8.

The edge 4 is still surrounded by a collar 15 shaped as a peripheralcontinuation of the edge 4. The load-bearing hook 16 of the hook part 3also reaches around this collar 15 with an end area designed to be longaccordingly and an interior area designed to be deep accordingly, sothat the hook 16 is mainly in supporting contact beneath the edge 4.

In the symmetrical design of the hook clamps 3, a second hook 17 isopposite the hook 16 in a mirror image arrangement. The hook issupported in the engaged state of the hook clamps 3 on the widened area13 and thus secures the hook clamps 3 vertically in the engagedposition. This prevents an impact beneath the pot or pressure from aboveon the hanger 2 or a single hook clamp from resulting in spreading ofthe hook clamps and then displacement in the circumferential directionor even damage due to overspreading. The connection between the pot 1and the hanger 2 thus at least has little or no play, which facilitateshandling and improves the strength of the hanging basket.

It is self-evident that in an asymmetrical embodiment of the hook clamp,a counterpart to the hook 16 could be provided instead of the hook 17,this counterpart running downward at a slight distance from the section12 and expediently also establishing a support on the broadened area 13.

The clamp engagement process is also clear from FIG. 5 in particular, inwhich the hook clamp bends, but the collar 15 and the adjacent area ofthe pot can definitely also yield. The hook clamp 3 is then pushed downso far that the hook 16 can reach above the collar 15, while the hook 17presses on the wall 8 beneath the widened area 13. In a backwardmovement, the hook 16 comes to rest beneath the edge 4, so the hook 17can recoil into its starting position in comparison with the hook 16 andis then above the widened area 13.

The end walls 14 on both sides of a narrowed zone 7 require a distancewhich provides the space for the hook clamps in question. In the presentcase the hook clamps are designed to be relatively narrow and have aconsiderable play of movement in the circumferential direction. It isself-evident that it may be advantageous to define the width of the hookclamps in order to achieve a limited play with a narrowed zone, which isadapted to be narrow in the circumferential direction, this thensuppressing pivoting and tilting movements of the hook clamps in theirseating.

1. Flowerpot (1) made of a deep-drawn plastic for a hanging basket,wherein a hanger (2) has multiple strands (5) which are connected byhook clamps (3) to the pot edge (4) which is provided with a continuouscontour on the outside, characterized in that the pot edge (4) hasnarrowed zones (7) belonging to a wall (8) that is connected at thebottom, these narrowed zones forming a seat for the hook clamps (3). 2.Flowerpot according to claim 1, characterized in that an intermediatestep between the pot edge (4) and the wall (8) is designed as the seat(7) for the hook clamps (3).
 3. Flowerpot (1) according to claim 2,characterized in that the intermediate step (7) is bordered on bothsides by end walls (14) that end at least approximately in a rightangle.
 4. Flowerpot (1) according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in thatthe intermediate step (7) has a height which determines the seat of thehook clamp (3) in an engaged position.
 5. Flowerpot (1) according to anyone of claims 1 through 4, characterized in that the narrowed zones (7)are dimensioned in the circumferential direction to just fit the widesthook clamps (3) that are provided.
 6. Flowerpot (1) according to any oneof claims 1 through 5, characterized in that the narrowed zones (7) forma seat for the hook clamps (3), which engage tightly beneath the potedge (4) against an adjacent wall part (12) running downward on theinside.
 7. Flowerpot (1) according to any one of claims 1 through 6,characterized in that at the periphery, the pot edge (4) develops atleast in the area of the narrowed zones into a collar (15), which isturned down, protruding into an inside area of the respective hook clamp(3).
 8. Flowerpot (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that thecollar (15) surrounds the pot edge (4) on the whole and forms thecontinuous peripheral contour of the pot edge (4).
 9. Flowerpot (1)according to any one of claims 1 through 8, characterized in that it isdrawn from a flat starting material with a thickness between 1 mm and1.8 mm and has a wall thickness of legs than 0.3 mm in some areas.